What We’re Reading

New York Times reporters and editors are highlighting great stories from around the web. You can receive What We’re Reading by email, and let us know how you like it at wwr@nytimes.com.

Image

CreditBrendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Franken Sense

From The New York Times: Writers from across ideologies and around the internet were unified in their condemnation of Senator Al Franken. Columnists on the right urged Democrats not to ignore sexual harassment allegations, and accused them of doing so when Bill Clinton was president. Those on the left explained that no politician, no matter how effective, was irreplaceable in the face serious allegations. — Anna Dubenko, senior digital strategist

_____

Image

CreditSpencer Platt/Getty Images

Forward

From The Cut: Rebecca Traister, the writer-at-large for New York Magazine, takes on the reckoning over abuse, assault and complicity. “Many men will absorb the lessons of late 2017 to be not about the threat they’ve posed to women but about the threat that women pose to them.” She concludes: “The only real solution may be one that is hardest to envision: equality.” — Max Fisher, The Interpreter columnist

_____

Image

CreditNiklas Halle'N/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Nonbinary

From Them: This is a beautiful fashion editorial about clothing’s role in gender presentation, and what it’s like to never find yourself within gender, only outside of it. — Jenna Wortham, Magazine staff writer, “Still Processing” co-host

_____

Image

CreditGeorge Etheredge for The New York Times

Indiscreet

From Gizmodo: Santa knows if you’re sleeping, awake, bad or good. But he’s a piker compared to Facebook. A genuinely creepy article on how much the monolith has on you — to help you find friends, sure, but also to monetize your life. — Michael Wines, national correspondent

In Summation

From The Guardian: Come for the excerpt from his hilarious, and successful cross-examination defending the National Theater from charges of “same-sex indecency” in 1982. Stay for the details of his amazing life: He was married to Dame Peggy Ashcroft, defended the publication of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” and was one of three barristers John Mortimer amalgamated as “Rumpole of the Bailey.” A classic obituary of Jeremy Hutchinson, Lord Hutchinson of Lullington, who died at 102. — Michael Cooper, classical music reporter

_____

Image

CreditGeordie Wood for The New York Times

The Human Condition

From YouTube: There’s a new Elvis Costello track, “You Shouldn’t Look at Me That Way.” The video’s a little wonky, but as Jon Pareles writes in The Times Playlist, the song has “a throwback style neatly suited to thoughts about the ravages of time and mortality.” — Sam Sifton, food editor

_____

Image

CreditJenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Well Aged

From Duluth News Tribune: Having grown up in Minnesota, I appreciate a good fish story. This one, from my hometown paper, is about a lake trout that was spotted recently at a refuge in the Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior. What’s special about this fish isn’t its size, but rather its age and its role in the recovery of a native species. — Gina Lamb, senior staff editor, special sections

_____

Image

CreditJewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Pace Yourself

From BuzzFeed: You may think you love podcasts. But you don’t love them as much as people called “podfasters,” who listen to podcasts at speeds two to three times faster than their original playbacks. I’m a former competitive college-level policy debater and coach who used to talk fast to win, so I admire the passion of these listeners, but I’m sticking to the 1x setting as I work my way through podcast back catalogs. — Michael Roston, senior staff editor, Science

_____

Image

CreditAlamy

Epic Fail

From James Clear: Failure is so crucial to progress, but have you ever really thought about *how* to fail the right way? The self-help guru James Clear outlines his “3 Stages of Failure” to show that changing the way you think about failure — and, in some ways, changing how you fail — can help you focus on what to learn when things don’t go your way. — Tim Herrera, Smarter Living editor